Publishing

Publishing

   Two of my friends recently announced that their books had been released, one being picked up by a major publishing house and the other being self-published but out on the shelves in several stores, including Amazon.  This was especially gratifying for me, seeing two determined would-be authors now taking off and becoming, in their own right, true authors...authors of a book.

   This isn't as easy as it sounds.  Many of us chat in our heads that "we could do that."  We watch the outtakes of movies and see cut after cut as the actors and actresses laugh and joke and well, it easy to think that "we could do that."  Granted, there are the exceptional actors, the Naomi Watts and Meryl Streeps and the Christian Bales and Sean Penns who put the word "acting" into an entire new category.  And in the book trade it is much the same; but who hasn't said, either to someone else or to oneself, "that would make a good book."  But as with all artistic endeavors, including songwriting, getting through the first step, that of actually finishing something, is no easy task.  And with publishing, once one does finish a manuscript, the hard work of getting your work noticed, perhaps finding an agent or publisher to help you (another major hurdle), getting your work picked up, getting it onto the shelf or the Web and again, getting it noticed, all begin to weigh you down.  And then the really hard part, waiting for the sales to arrive.

    Statistics show that once again, it is the top 1% that take most of the monies, only this time it isn't the wealthy per se, but the wealthy artists.  Over 98% of all song royalties go to the top 1% of music artists, and figures are much the same for book authors.  For agents and publishers, this is extremely frustrating for the talent is out there.  But faced with thousands of news arrivals each week (yes, major houses receive that many manuscripts if not more) it is difficult for an agent or publisher to sort through the pile (many employ screeners to filter through the deluge) and decide which one might show promise.  And agents and publishers genuinely want to find that talent for that means exposure and income and fame for all involved.  And talent sometimes does get missed (the classic story is that of J.K. Rowling having her Harry Potter series turned down by 26 different publishing houses before being accepted).

    And to easily put yourself into the seat of an agent or publisher, just walk into a bookstore or library and pick a category (say, adult mysteries) and browse the titles.  Where to start?  And those are the published titles.  Now pick any five books and begin reading.  Page one, page two, not interested.  Next book.  Page one, page two, maybe page three.  Next book.  In the real world, the general rule is that a manuscript has three paragraphs to grab an editor or screener.  One can picture facing not five books but several hundred and how quickly one would begin to sort through the words.

   On the other side of the spectrum is the sweat and tears and energy that went into those written pages.  For many, if not all,  this is perhaps a life's work, a dream, a fulfillment to oneself to get that book "out there," a book or story that needed to be told.  My friend's niece did exactly that, writing perhaps a 50,000 word novel and gave me the galley and, I read it with an editorial bent, being honest but critical, encouraging her that she had done what few would ever do, but the reality was that to my eyes, it wasn't quite polished enough.  I never heard from her again.  And this is hard, for despite my sending several followup letters encouraging her to keep going, I was afraid that I had come close to ending her drive.  But this, too, is part of the writing world.  The outside world is so full of talent that it is often a shock to discover that your masterpiece, your blood and guts as they say, is anything but.  One assistant editor delivered such news to me at an early age;  upon reading my first manuscript, she looked at me and said, "I've read better."  Ouch.  The book idea was shelved.

   Yet marketing and fame are funny things.  In a seminar I attended with Rod Serling (of The Twilight Zone fame), he talked about writing a script titled, Seven Bells for Susan, which was promptly rejected over and over.  But he kept writing, shelving the story and waiting for his big break.  Soon after his hit series and many pieces for the series, Playhouse 90, he told of bringing out the same story, Seven Bells for Susan, only now received wide praise.  Don't throw anything out, he said, for when you hit it big, views change even if your writing hasn't (he was kind enough to grant me --a budding young writer who was new to the field-- an interview which was later published).

   The end point of all of this is that for those of you wanting to write, be it a song or a story or a book, just start.  The pages might look blank after awhile and you will surely get frustrated, but it all begins by just beginning (even just starting a blog, which is super easy...hey, if I can do it so can you).  And as you know by a quick trip to the library, the world waits for something new.  A biography, a how-to book, a tale of dragons, a cookbook.  It won't be easy, that's for certain; but one never knows.  My friends did it, and kudos to them...this was and is a grand accomplishment on their part.  And you can read about them here, one just leaving his college years and the other just entering her 50s.  Age has nothing to do with what's inside you...just begin.  The road is long but as Rod Serling told me, "talent wins out."  Talent and a lot of luck and determination.